Episode 9: The Masa — What media they consume (Part 3)
Communication is powerful. So let’s talk about it!
In the last episode, we talked about why we need to talk about the masa when doing communication for social change. To cap off our mini-series on the mass market, we discuss how they consume the media, what content they engage with, and who they trust. The Owls (Oya, Joza, and Mika) are joined by Leo Laroza, the director for communication and information technology at SWS; and Wati Doctor, the president of Thinkscape Research.
OYA: I’m Oya.
JOZA: I’m Joza.
MIKA: And I’m Mika.
OYA: We are WiseOwl.
MIKA: WiseOwl is a consultancy firm that specializes in communication for social change.
MIKA: In the last episode, we talked about who the mass market is. What are their aspirations and attitudes? And why do we need all of this if we want to, number one, know the pulse of the Filipino people, and number two, effect social change? In this episode, the last of a three-part mini series on the masa, we talk about how they consume media, and who they trust. Again, we have with us Leo Laroza, the director for communication and information technology for the Social Weather Stations or SWS, and Wati Doctor, the president of Thinkscape Research. Leo, what exactly is the main source of information for the public?
LEO: Television still is the number one source of information for the public. But we’ve also seen that Facebook already overtook radio in terms of usage for news and information. We also see that cellular phones actually is already owned by nine out of ten Filipinos. oh nine out of ten households I mean. So that’s 91 percent of households reporting that any of their family members has a cellular phone. So it’s not even asking are they owning one phone for each member. But definitely, cellular phone ownership has already overtaken television ownership.
MIKA: We also asked Wati. What is media consumption during the pandemic like?
WATI: Maraming mas nag-online. Kasi nasa bahay ka na lang eh. So Facebook, Twitter, Instagram. Yung mga may Netflix, mas nagniNetflix sila ngayon. Tapos nangyari pa yung nashutdown yung ABS-CBN right? So before, nung medyo pastart pa lang ng lockdown, yung mga tao ah kasi may iWanTV so they can still watch their news programs or telenovela sa ABS. Pero nung nawala na talaga si ABS-CBN, some of them moved to more social media. Yung iba naman okay kapag news nakikinig sa GMA. Pero mas nararamdaman mo talaga na medyo kulang na yung napagkukuhanan ng mga information. Mas nagfafollow rin yung mga tao sa Facebook pages ng mga LGUs nila. Like yung sa sa sa city hall. They also follow the pages of their barangay hall kung meron or yung mga friends nila sa barangay.
MIKA: Meron ba kayo in your research na nakita na sino yung pinagkakatiwalaan nila.
WATI: The ones that they trust would be mainly the media. So, they usually follow online yung mga GMA. Yung mga the likes of CNN, The Guardian. New York Times. PhilSTAR. Philippine Inquirer. They usually like the FB pages of those sources. Tapos lumalabas na lang sa feeds nila. They also follow yung mga agencies like DOH. But there were, there was a time na medyo may discrepancy sa data. So mas nagrerely sila sa media.
MIKA: We’ve touched on how the shutdown of ABS-CBN has affected the masa’s media consumption. How do they feel about this? Here’s Leo.
LEO: majority said that the franchise of ABS-CBN should have been renewed. — — And they also say that non-renewal of the ABS-CBN franchise would be a big blow to the freedom of expression or freedom of the press. So there’s a majority support when it comes to to keeping ABS-CBN on air.
MIKA: But Wati’s group at Thinkscape Research had different findings.
WATI: Hati sila. Hati. Kasi, at one point iniisip nila na baka meron talagang ginawang kasalanan si ABS-CBN. Meaning to say, may mga tax evasion, or meron talagang hindi nasunod na batas. Which is why talagang deserve nila yung shutdown. But on the other hand, naaawa rin sila kase maraming mawawalan ng trabaho specially during this pandemic. And at the same time, medyo untimely sya. Kase, nasa panahon tayo ng Covid, ng pandemya, and iba yung ginagawa na focus ng gobyerno. So ang hinahanap ng tao was ano ba yung plano ng gobyerno pagdating sa Covid, pagdating sa sa mga tao? Pano sila kakain? Pano sila mabubuhay? Tapos biglang pumapasok ‘tong isyu ng ABS-CBN so medyo may discrepancy doon sa kanila.
OYA: But hindi ba importante at this time very much for people yung information like updates about Covid for example. Bakit hindi nararamdaman sa bituka yung shutdown ng ABS?
WATI: Marami silang sources of information. Sige di ba sa Facebook they follow all these legit sources. They follow the city hall, they follow the government agencies. They follow the barangay. So all of these ang dami nga nilang actually information. So which is why to answer Oya’s question, hindi sya masyadong nararamdaman, hindi sya malapit sa bituka. Kasi feeling nila, marami pa silang mapagkukuhanan ng impormasyon. Yes tama ka na sa ibang areas mas malakas ang ABS-CBN. Which is why when talk to some respondents who were in the provinces, mas ramdam talaga nila na wala na yung ABS-CBN. But para sa kanila, pwede pa naman akong kumuha ng information sa ibang sources like the city hall. The government. The barangay. So kumbaga mas nararamdaman nila yung pagkawala ng ABS dahil sa mga sinusubaybayan nilang programa.
MIKA: Siguro for us as communicators one of the things that we look at is parang framing. How we approach how things are being communicated especially kapag hot issue sya. The way na ABS-CBN framed it was about labor. Maraming mawawalan ng trabaho, nasa pandemya tayo, ito pa yung inuuna. Pero meron ding mga nagsasabi na baka dapat mas nag- nagfocus on freedom of the press, or freedom of expression. Is that something na for the masses, is that a concern that’s that will hit them? Or that they care about?
WATI: It doesn’t really matter to them. Bakit? One, for them hindi nakucurtail ang press freedom kasi marami pa rin silang sources of information. kumbaga hindi sya naging impactful for them. Pangalawa, ano ba ang press freedom? Malayo to sa bituka. So, mas mas mabigat pa rin or mas isis- iisipin pa rin nila yung karapatan ko magkaron ng pagkain ng trabaho versus thinking about press freedom.
OYA: Wati ha babalikan ko lang yung sinabi mo kanina no? Sabi mo yung mga tao while hindi nila ramdam yung ABS-CBN issue, naawa sila dun sa mga nawalan ng trabaho. Pero parang ang interpretation ko dun is ang lakas ng empathy ng mga Pilipino para dun sa mga taong nagigipit dahil sa pandemic. Would you agree with that?
WATI: Yes yes. Malakas talaga yung empathy ng mga tao. Laluna dun sa mga nawalan ng trabaho. Malakas rin yung empathy ng mga tao dun sa mga nawalan ng negosyo. Kasi alam nila na konektado lahat eh. Yung yung kapag nawalan to ng negosyo, mawawalan ng trabaho yung mga tao nya. Nashutdown si ABS mawawalan ng trabaho yung mga tao nila, yung mga cameramen, lightsmen yung mga rank and file. So lahat damay. At alam nila kapag wala silang trabaho, sa n sila kukuha ng pera pangtustos
OYA: And do they do anything about it?
WATI: that’s the thing hindi sya organized thing to help. It’s more of an individual thing. Na parang ako magbibigay na lang ako ng donation.
MIKA: We now know that TV is still the masa’s medium of choice, but Facebook is a close second. And with everyone being stuck indoors during the pandemic, more and more Filipinos are going online. Here’s Leo, with Oya and Joza.
LEO: What ah creates the class divide is internet. Of course the upper classes, there are more of them with access to the internet. And the masses would be 49 percent. But, everything becomes equal once the masses get access to the internet. Everyone from 99 percent to 97 percent would have Facebook specifically. Twitter is slightly more among the upper classes, but there are also the class D there. And very few class E. Youtube is the number one choice for the class AB. But 40 percent of the masa with internet access also look at Youtube. And we’re talking about news. Instagram is popular among the masa. More popular among the masa than the upper classes.
JOZA: Parang interesting yung Instagram. Parang in our line of work, hindi mo masyadong, hindi masyadong nababanggit ang Instagram as something that you use for the masses. Apparently nandun sila. What are the parang type of content na kinoconsume ng mga masses?
LEO: That one we don’t have yet, but we know that when they go to Facebook, the number one activity that they do is to share. Not create their content but to share or comme- or or or you know the react. The bulk of the activity being done in ac- across all classes as long as they’re using Facebook is simply react or the clicking of the like, heart or sad, angry.
OYA: It’s reacting. What about comments? Very few?
LEO: Very few. Ahm, first would be reacting and then forward- or reposting. Sharing, sharing. And then commenting. But not so much. We were looking to freedom of speech by the way. And ah, ah it’s very much alive. Ah even with what’s happening to media. Or what’s what the media what people in media are going through. Across classes they s- think that they can say anything even if it’s against the government. But they acknowledge that if you say it over media, then ah it can be dangerous.
MIKA: Remember, these findings were before the pandemic struck. Before the quarantine rules were in place. And before the anti-terror law was enacted, even before the debates about it and protests over it occurred. But back to media consumption.
LEO: Would you be interested in what kind of newspaper they read? It’s a strange result because among the ah the class D or the masa. With almost equal equal ah share or proportion, say they read Pilipino Star Ngayon, Manila Bulletin, and then ooh, Bulgar. In terms of radio station you want to hear that?
OYA: First, AM or FM?
LEO: There’s no distinction. Love Radio, DZMM, DZRH.
MIKA: And as for TV?
LEO: Among the masa, it’s ABS-CBN followed by GMA-7 and then TV5.
MIKA: Joza, Oya, and I asked Wati for additional insights.
WATI: Radyo, hindi na masyado. Pero ang napapansin ko tumataas ang Youtube nila. Kase kunwari magfafollow na lang sila ng Showtime or Eat Bulaga. Manonood na lang sila ng segments doon. Kung anong trending, ang kadalasan na malakas well for dun sa mga nakausap ko, kun- kunwari nagkocommute sila, yung mga ah alam mo yung mga playlist or yung mga full album of ganyan ganyan. So dun sila nakikinig. Or, kung ano yung nakakatawa, kung ano iyong nakakatawa, yung mga challenge, Basketball.
OYA: And you said kanina yung mga episodes yung mga shows din. They watch on Youtube. So parang naging extension siya ng TV pa rin. Pero on-demand. Whenever they want.
WATI: Yes yes. Or kunwari ah, Ikaanim Na, ano yung Ikaanim Na Utos! Tapos manonood ka na nun ng isang episode? Pwede mo pang idownload di ba?
MIKA: At saan sila kumukuha ng internet?
WATI: May free. Di ba free yun sa mga promo? So kapag magload ka ng mobile prepaid promos merong free YouTube Or magloload lang sila ng 75 pesos tapos yun yung gagamitin nila for one week. Alam kong hindi enough yun pero, kung meron namang free wi-fi sa mall, why not?
MIKA: Ang masa ba nagtetext pa?
WATI:Uhm, yes. Pero kung na- meron ka namang data na yung sa Messenger na free, magmeMessenger sila. May emoji ka pa.
OYA: Where do they get their news?
WATI: Trending.
OYA: Trending.
WATI: Trending sa Youtube.
OYA: So kung hindi nagtrend, wa- hindi na nila alam.
WATI: Hindi. Or siguro ahm, TV kung may kung nagtiTV sila. Pero ano lang yan ah ahm, it’s either yung morning, or yung sa gabi. Six o’clock six thirty. Facebook rin pala. Kasi maraming maraming news sa Facebook. Kunwari yung mga lindol, minsan dun pa nila nalalaman una
JOZA: Okay Curious lang ako dun sa radio. Kasi I’m guessing andami nating mga social change advocates and clients na nagkoconsider ng TV, radio and other channels. Bakit bumababa yung radio consumption among the masses?
WATI: Hindi na sila masyadong nakikinig ng radyo kasi wala na yung radio transistor di ba? Isa yun. Pangalawa, mas magtiTV ka na lang kase, nakikita mo, naririnig mo. Kung pumunta ka sa kusina, pwede mong marinig. Yung radyo napapansin ko kapag nagkocommute. Kunwari nag- nasa bus. Tapos nakikinig sila ng news. Pero kalaban rin nila is yung either yung Youtube or yung Spotify.
MIKA: Now we know who the mass market’s sources of information are. Let’s go to the question of trust. Whether it’s an institution, or a personality, kanino ba sila nagtitiwala? Media? Church? Family?
WATI: They listen to the government pero interspersed dyan yung opinion ng ibang tao. Lalo na yung mga malalapit sa kanila. For example, sa isang pamilya na lahat sila nanood ng TV di ba so they get the same information. But kung ano yung sinasabi ni Tatay, kung anong sinasabi ni Nanay, or ni Ate, yan lahat yan pumapasok dun sa isip ng isang tao. And he gets, he interprets it and makes his own conclusions. So pagdating sa sino ba yung tinatanggap nila, I think mainly news pa rin news. Yung sa TV. Kasi the canon ah yung mga TV news naaaccess na rin nila sa social media yan eh.
JOZA: Kasi I guess andami nating nakikita na iba’t ibang Facebook page na mga news site and then yung mga tao parang hindi na kasi naniniwala at least yung mga nagkocomment, hindi na sila naniniwala dun sa mga news sites ngayon on Facebook. totoo ba yun? Or like generally, kapag balita naniniwala naman ang mga tao?
WATI: Pag balita, naniniwala naman sila kasi yun pa rin yung l- Kapamilya ka ba? Kapuso? Ganun. Maglalike ka lang naman don and then you follow the news, di ba? Tapos whatever is trending, titingnan mo rin yan. Tugma ba, hindi? Kunwari nung pumutok yung Taal, nagnews si GMA, nagnews si ABS-CBN. Marami ring lumalabas sa Youtube, sa Facebook. And then they get to see. Lahat ng eto, totoo to. Eto hindi. Lahat yun pumapasok sa consciousness nila and then they draw their own conclusions.
MIKA: We’ve talked about which sources of information the mass market trusts.
Now let’s go to the actual content.JOZA: For like, advertising practitioners sobrang common ng mga madadrama, parang teleserye yung mga commercials na napapanood. How effective is that kind of portrayal ng emotions sa mga masa market natin?
WATI: There are two important emotions, I mean among Filipinos. One is yung iyakan, mga hugot. Kase relate eh di ba? Yung isa naman tawa. Kasi naman, napa- naaangat yung pagkadown mo. Which is why, benta yung teleserye di ba? Benta rin naman yung mga variety show. Naaalala mo yung sa Jollibee? — — yung mga mahahaba nilang ads. Di ba yung iba nakakaiyak, yung iba nakakatawa. Pero at the end of the day naantig ang puso mo. Kapag nanonood ka ng mga Filipino movies, iyakan galore di ba? Kase, nafifeel mo kung ano yung nafifeel nila.
JOZA: Bumibili ba ang Pinoy kapag naantig ang damdamin nya?
WATI: Mas naaalala ka, mas relate sa’yo, mas nagkakaron ng yung sinasabi kong brand love.
OYA: So either paiyakin mo sila or patawanin mo sila.
WATI: Oo. Pero ang ang ang napansin kong emotion na medyo ah nagviveer away from yung mga Pinoy yung kapag may galit. Non-confrontational tayo eh.
O: That’s really interesting kasi for I mean so if our audiences are social change advocates and you know because there are so many problems in society, hindi maiiwasan sometimes they express a lot of anger and that pala doesn’t gain any support?WATI: Yes. Yes. Kapag masyado kang galit. Or palagi kang galit. Di ba? Parang ang nega naman ng taong yan.
OYA: Pero Wati di ba may times na talagang dapat naman magalit ka about certain things?
WATI: May times talaga na dapat magalit ka. Pero mahirap kasi yung palagi kang galit na wala ka namang ginagawa
MIKA: Right. And that’s what we noticed din with with ano no, with the mass market parang Okay, okay lang yang emotion mo pero hindi pwedeng wala kang gagawin about it, parang ganun? Like you have to find a way to overcome it. To either be happy or if umiyak ka na lang dyan sa tabi. Like itawa mo na lang or iiyak mo na lang yan. Move on and then do something about it.
WATI: Actually, mas move on.
MIKA: Mas move on?
WATI: Mahirap yung do something about it eh.
MIKA: We can’t, hindi natin kayang ikeep yung parang nega vibes of anger masyado.
WATI: Uhm, meron talaga kasing mga nega. Pero iba yung nega na [makes sounds] palagi. Which is why parang yung ibang tao, ano ba yan ang ingay ingay, wala naman syang ginagawa. Anong kontribusyon nya?
MIKA: Pero eto ah. I find that very interesting kase the hugot part naman, hindi naman move on yun eh.
WATI: Move forward lang, don’t do something about it.
MIKA: Ah, ibig sabihin masakit pa rin?
WATI: Oo! dalawa yung sinabi mo eh, move forward tsaka do something about it. Yung move forward, agree ako. Hugot ka lang ng hugot, sige. Pero hindi do something about it. I mean, admittedly, hindi talaga nangyayari yun. I mean kahit naman sa sarili kong buhay di ba?
OYA: So baka yung either crying or laughing is uhm, some sort of relief.
WATI: Yes.
OYA: to be able to gain some relief, you cry or you laugh.
WATI: Yes. Nilalabas mo.
OYA: And then you move forward na. at a certain point they say kailangan magmove forward na. Kasi naiinis din sila pag masyadong matagal. They don’t like wallowing also.
JOZA: Ako ang question ko actually with that is, kase like for example kapag puro sama ng loob, puro mga negative na balita or kung social change advocates lagi na lang galit, I think meron kasing kung masa market di ba, hindi ba merong kang gut issues na kailangang iaddress. And hindi ka talaga pwedeng mag-stay dun sa emotion ng galit. Kasi meron kang mga bagay na kailangang iaddress sa personal life mo.
WATI: Oo. Atsaka kasi di ba kung isipin mo kung katabi mo araw-araw, laging nega, laging galit. Umaga hanggang gabi, galit. Gusto mo ba kasama yung taong yun? Di ba?
MIKA: So parang ano ka na, hindi ka na makikinig.
OYA: But Wati are you also saying na even if like as magagalit ka as appropriate or iiyak ka or tatawa ka for relief no? Tapos ang sinasabi mo, they move on. So kahit the problem persists, they just yun nga yung expression na tuloy pa rin, you just learn to live with your problem?
WATI: Siguro, generally, they will learn to live with their problem. May mga ibang tao lang talaga sig- ewan ko kung marami sila o hindi yung talagang gagawa ng gagawa ng paraan para maresolba yung issue. Pero mas napapansin ko na, kunwari ahm, yung bahay ko tumutulo, sige. Lagyan na lang natin ng balde o iEpoxy na lang na or lagyan ng mighty, vulcaseal sa taas That’s it. Yung iba naman, gagawa ako ng paraan para makapag-ipon, papalitan ko yung bubong ko. May difference.
MIKA: I find it very interesting Wati no yung parang pag galit ayaw mo nang makinig, pero kasi andami ring yung mga nakikinig ba lalo na sa mga bakbakan sa radyo or sa TV. Kase patok yan eh. Patok yun yung parang Uy, may gulo. Ususero ‘ko, makikigulo din ako. Anong nangyayari dyan? How does this exist in a country where mas preferred pala natin yung hugot tsaka laughter?
WATI: Siguro it has something to do with the content. Kaso kung let’s say, makikinig ako sa isang program, puro away pero alam mo yun, away mag-asawa. O kaya away ng kapitbahay. Ako, bilang listener, mapagtatawanan ko pa yan eh. Tingnan mo, babaw nila o. Ano ba naman yan, ayusin na lang nila. Versus, yung araw-araw mong naririnig na kapag yung seryoso yung ku- kunwari about politics. ayaw mo na, di ba? So depende sa content. Tapos sasabihin pa siguro ng listener, [makes sounds] buti hindi nang- nangyayari yan sa’ken.
MIKA: And that’s it for our mini-series on the mass market. We learned that they have so many sources of information, and that they’re online more and more these days, especially on Facebook and YouTube. We also found the kinds of emotions that resonate with them, which can guide us as communicators when we craft our messages for social change. Thanks again to our guests Leo Laroza and Wati Doctor. And to the people who made this possible, specifically PumaPodcast, the Spark Project, and our backers. Shoutout to our producers Tricia Aquino and Diosa Quinones, and Mark Casillan, our sound guy, and our audio editor Niko Bolante.
OYA: I’m Oya.
JOZA: I’m Joza.
MIKA: And I’m Mika.
JOZA: Look for WiseOwl PH on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Medium. You can visit our website wiseowl.ph. We’d love to hear from you. Send your feedback to hoot@wiseowl.ph.
MIKA: Use your voice. Give a hoot!
